Full Name Benjamin Swann Name Ben Swann | Website Official website Occupation Journalist | |
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Alma mater Brigham Young UniversityCalifornia State University, Dominguez Hills Television KFOX-TV (1999–2007)KTSM-TV (2008–2010)WXIX-TV (2010–2013)RT America (2014–2015)WGCL-TV (2015–present) Nominations Shorty Award for Journalist Profiles | ||
Huawei-US battle like ‘mob shakedown’ – Ben Swann
Benjamin Swann (born July 17, 1978) is an American television news anchor and investigative journalist. He has worked in New Mexico, Texas, Ohio, Washington, D.C., and Georgia. While at Fox affiliate WXIX-TV in Cincinnati, Ohio, he began producing a fact-checking series entitled "Reality Check", which has garnered occasional media attention for questioning widely accepted narratives on high-profile controversies such as the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, and an alleged link between vaccines and autism. After leaving WXIX-TV in 2013, Swann regularly appeared on RT America, part of the Russian state-owned TV network RT, while independently continuing to produce his show "Reality Check". In June 2015, Swann left RT America to join CBS affiliate WGCL-TV in Atlanta, Georgia as chief evening news anchor.
Contents
- Huawei US battle like mob shakedown Ben Swann
- Ben Swann Responds to Jeffrey Epstein Pedophilia Case
- Education
- Career
- Reality Check
- Mass shootings
- Pizzagate conspiracy theory
- Syria conflict and ISIL
- September 11 attacks
- Malaysia Airlines Flight 17
- RussiaUnited States relations
- Alleged Russian hacking of the DNC and John Podestas e mails
- Alleged link between vaccines and autism
- Awards
- 2002
- 2003
- 2004
- 2005
- References
Ben Swann Responds to Jeffrey Epstein Pedophilia Case
Education
Swann was homeschooled and earned a bachelor's degree in Liberal Arts from Brigham Young University in 1993, at the age of 15, and a master's degree in History from California State University, Dominguez Hills in 1994, at the age of 16.
Career
Early in his career, Swann was bureau chief in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Swann worked for 11 years in the television market in El Paso, Texas. He first worked at Fox affiliate KFOX-TV as an anchor, reporter, managing editor and photographer. In 2008 Swann moved to NBC affiliate KTSM-TV, where he anchored the evening news for almost three years and became one of the top names in the market.
During this period, Swann also wrote for CBN News, focusing on Mexico's drug wars on the Texas border.
He left El Paso in December 2010 to become a TV news presenter at Cincinnati, Ohio's WXIX-TV Fox 19 Evening News at Six and Fox 19 Ten O'Clock News with Tricia Macke, where he began producing his "Reality Check" fact-checking and media analysis show. During the two and one-half years Swann was part of the news team at WXIX-TV Fox 19, it consistently placed second in ratings in the Cincinnati market.
On October 23, 2012, Swann served as a panel member on a third-party presidential candidates debate hosted by Larry King in Chicago, Illinois, and broadcast on C-SPAN, Al Jazeera America, and online through the sponsorship of the Free & Equal Elections Foundation.
On April 9, 2013, Swann announced he would be leaving WXIX-TV Fox 19 on May 31, 2013, and on May 30, 2013, he announced that he would launch a crowdfunded media watchdog Truth In Media to continue production of his show "Reality Check" independently through a Chicago, Illinois-based production team. Truth in Media's team includes Rare contributor Kurt Wallace, podcast host Jason Stapleton, blogger Julie Borowski, and CPS whistleblower Carlos Morales. From May 2013 until June 2015, Swann appeared regularly on RT America in Washington, D.C.
Since June 2015, Swann has been an evening and late-night anchor for WGCL-TV CBS46 in Atlanta, Georgia. organization.
"Reality Check"
In addition to news anchoring, Swann is an investigative reporter and media critic and has made a reputation for "Reality Check" by covering controversial and under-reported stories. The Daily Beast has reported that many of Swann's segments echo talking points from media outlets such as RT and InfoWars that are rarely seen in more mainstream news media. Swann's "Reality Check" segments were uploaded to his YouTube channel and have garnered 10,376,570 views and over 73,500 subscribers. One theme of Swann's "Reality Check" has been covering the lack of media attention given to Ron Paul's presidential campaigns and the Ron Paul newsletter controversy that had already drawn national attention.
Mass shootings
While working for a Cincinnati-area Fox affiliate WXIX-TV in 2012, Swann suggested on his personal YouTube channel that Adam Lanza was accompanied by another shooter. He has said that he had “major problems with the theory” that 2012 Aurora shooting and Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings were conducted by lone gunmen. There is no evidence that any additional shooters were present at the shootings. Some such reports may have been influenced by confused early news reports of the events.
Pizzagate conspiracy theory
While working for CBS affiliate WGCL-TV, Ben Swann dedicated a "Reality Check" segment to the Pizzagate conspiracy theory that emerged during the 2016 United States presidential election cycle and called for a police investigation of the Pizzagate allegations. After reporting on the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, Swann closed his social media accounts.
Syria conflict and ISIL
In December 2016, Swann aired a segment titled "If (Syrian President Bashar al) Assad is Committing Genocide in Aleppo, Why Are People Celebrating in the Streets?" Swann has sought crowdfunding for an episode titled, “U.S and partners intentionally created ISIS”.
September 11 attacks
Swann has questioned whether 7 World Trade Center collapsed on September 11, 2001 the way authorities said it did.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17
In an appearance in 2015 RT America, Swann said that “any credible evidence does not seem to exist” that Russia shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.
Russia–United States relations
Swann has hosted on his personal website posts with headlines such as "Putin: Russian military not threatening anybody, we are protecting our borders" and "Putin demonized for thwarting neocon plan for global domination." One such post stated, "For it is a rule which invariably holds true – if the Western elites praise the leader of a foreign country it means he is doing something which is good for those elites and bad for his country. If he’s demonized, as Putin is, it’s the other way round."
Alleged Russian hacking of the DNC and John Podesta's e-mails
Swann hosted a segment on WGCL-TV titled “5 Problems with CIA Claim That Russia Hacked DNC/Podesta Emails.”
Alleged link between vaccines and autism
Swann has expressed skepticism of media reports and public health officials' consensus that vaccines do not cause autism.} He has said that "despite the official ruling that there is no link between vaccines and autism, there have been at least 83 cases of autism among those compensated for vaccine-induced brain damage." Swann has also said that "the CDC did ... intentionally omit data that demonstrated a connection between an increased risk of autism in African American males who were given the MMR vaccine before 36 months of age." In one of his segments, Swann reported, "as one parent told me, while public statements have been made that there is no research supporting the assertion that vaccines can cause autism, families point to dozens of studies that do find a link between vaccines and autism that public health officials do not share with the public."
Awards
Swann has won multiple awards for his journalism while working as a TV anchor and reporter for local television affiliates. Swann won an RTDNA Edward R. Murrow Award in 2004 and a Lone Star Emmy Award in 2005, as well as a journalism award in New Mexico.